Taken at the International Space Station by astronaut Aki Hoshide (Japan), this awe-inspiring self portrait brings into one frame “the Sun, the Earth, two portions of a robotic arm, an astronaut’s spacesuit, the deep darkness of space, and the unusual camera taking the picture.” You’ll want to click the image above (or this link) to view the picture dubbed “Orbiting Astronaut Self-Portrait” in a worthy larger format.

Comments (5)

If you look closely at the large version of the picture…the camera is a standard digital SLR covered with some sort of anti-radiation covering signified by the two letters “DX” on the front of the camera.

It’s clear that this picture was taken with a hand-held SLR, NOT with the “unusual camera” referred to in the text (the ISERV camera, which can be seen here: .

Also, I’m surprised that neither NASA nor the Open Culture editors noted that, in addition to the other objects in the photo, there is another astronaut, Sunita Williams, seen from above, visible just above and to the left of the camera in the center.

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Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.